An up-and-coming fashion photographer and the men behind the mysterious ‘YGA’ tag - which has been sprayed across the city - were among a gang of graffiti artists who caused £340,000 of damage to trains and trams.

Kieron Cummings, 25, had previously been commissioned for shoots by designer Vivienne Westwood, whose staff have feted him as a ‘rare talent’, Manchester Crown Court heard.

But he is also the founder of the ‘SMT Crew’ - a ‘family’ of graffiti taggers behind a nationwide campaign of criminal damage, stretching from Ardwick to Uxbridge.

Now Cummings and four other members of the crew have been locked up. Two others have been spared jail.

Their sentencing hearing was told Cummings was behind bars awaiting sentence for earlier graffiti offences when he passed leadership of the SMT Crew to Dominic Leach, from Middleton.

The SMT tag on train carriages

Leach then recruited a number of other young men - Jake Goddard, Blake Feather, Christopher Thomas and Niall Leach - to spray-paint the SMT tag across the country’s rail network.

It was a task they took seriously and took pride in, having been immersed in the scene since their schooldays. But now all six of the group have been sentenced after admitting conspiracy to cause criminal damage at Manchester Crown Court.

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His barrister said there was an ‘unusual gulf’ in the amount of talent the men in the dock had, and their offending. Goddard, from Withington, and Hannaway, from Chorlton, are also associated with YGA - a separate graffiti crew whose tag is frequently spotted across Greater Manchester’s tram platforms, shop shutters and ginnels.

The SMT crew were initially suspected of involvement in 64 ‘attacks’ on the transport network between 2011 and 2013, but since their arrest, they continued to commit further offences across the country, and now the total number exceeds 130, prosecutor Jonathan Dickinson said.

Sentencing, Judge Michael Leeming told them: “Upon any view this was serious, pre-planned and organised crime - a wide-ranging conspiracy carried out for your own gratification and self-advertisement.”

Dominic Leach, 24, of Hulvert Street, Middleton, was involved in 54 attacks, with the total value in excess of £124,000. He has been jailed for 14 months.

His brother Niall Leach, 22, who lives at the same address, was involved in 25 offences to the value of £45,019. He was seen in recovered footage opening a bottle of champagne in celebration outside a graffiti-bombed train in Southport. He has been jailed for 12 months.

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Jake Goddard, 21, of Ashford Road, Withington, was involved in 11 offences with a value of £22,311 - but was spared jail because he acts as carer to his mother. He was given an eight month sentence, suspended for two years, with 150 hours’ unpaid work.

Judah Hannaway, 21, of Meachin Avenue, Chorlton, was involved in targeting Metrolink trams with Goddard. When his home was searched, scores of spray-paint cans and marker pens were found, along with a collection of high-visibility jackets and marker pens. He was handed a 12 month community order with 150 hours' unpaid work.

Blake Feather, 27, of Sutton under Brailes, was involved in offences in Coventry and Southampton, as well as in Uxbridge and Banbury, the total cost being £43,419. He was jailed for 12 months.

Christopher Thomas, 34, of Clifton, Bristol, was involved in three offences - at Wigan, Longsight and Huddersfield - causing £7,044 of damage. He was sentenced to 13 months in prison.

Kieron Cummings, from Ruislip, Middlesex, was in jail during part of the period covered, but was in contact with Dominic Leach regarding the crew’s activities and was linked to tagging at Ardwick depot and on the Metrolink network.

Sentencing, Judge Leeming said graffiti was ‘not a victimless crime’, adding: “This was planned and persistent vandalism designed to show off to others similarly minded, with no regard as to the wider impact. Whilst there may be a place for good street art, graffiti like this adds to an air of general lawlessness which is simply unacceptable. Each of you knew the conspiracy was wider than your own individual acts. The total cost of putting right the damage caused is put in excess of £340,000.”

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Breaking into railway depots in the dead of night, sometimes using stolen keys, the SMT Crew prided themselves on their stealth and guile.

But a trail of texts and letters unmasked them after Dominic Leach was stopped and searched by police on the London Underground network in 2013.

Searches of his phone and home revealed he was an active graffiti artist, and incriminated his SMT Crew pals.

Kieron Cummings

What each of them shared was an obsession with making their art public and an addiction to playing cat and mouse with the authorities. The prospect of arrest - Dominic Leach had spent time in the cells in Milan after being caught tagging the subway there - did not stop them.

They revelled in their notoriety, with Leach marketing ‘System Tumours’ - the DVD of their activities - to fans of the underground scene.

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Letters sent between Kieron Cummings and Leach in 2012, while Cummings was locked up as he awaited sentence for an earlier conspiracy, reveal how seriously they took a pursuit regarded by the courts and police as wanton destruction.

Urging Leach and his recruits to not get caught, because ‘we don’t want any more jailbirds then we already have’, he gave them the ‘rights’ to use his cherished SMT brand, and added: “I look forward to meeting them and trust your judgement. (I want) quality pieces, rather than mass damage. I want style and full colours.”

Investigating officer PC Tony McGibbon, said: “This was a lengthy and incredibly complex investigation which took many years to develop. Our painstaking efforts have now paid off.

“The cost of repairing graffiti is enormous. Network Rail estimates that each year they spend in the region of £5million cleaning graffiti vandalism off their network.

“We continue to work to disrupt the activities of these gangs and will do everything in our power to arrest those responsible and bring them before the courts – today’s result reflects that and should act as a deterrent.

“Of course, the public can help us in tackling this issue and bringing offenders to justice. If you notice anyone acting suspiciously or vandalising the railway you can easily report it to us by discreetly texting 61016. We will then investigate.”